Alan Pflueger, the owner of Honda dealerships and one of Hawaii’s wealthiest people, was at the head of a fraud that paid his personal expenses.
Charles Alan Pflueger, owner of Pflueger Inc., Randall Kurata, the company’s chief financial officer, and Julie Kam, Pflueger’s executive assistant, pleaded guilty to tax crimes by filing false federal income tax returns before U.S. District Court Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi in Honolulu, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.
Alan Pflueger, as he is known, is the owner of multiple car dealerships – including Hawaii’s largest Honda chain and one of Hawaii’s wealthiest people, was at the head of a tax crimes fraud that paid his personal expenses, which were deducted as business expenses by Pflueger Inc, the Justice Department said. Pflueger also caused another of his companies, Pacific Auto Distributors LLC, to pay additional personal expenses, and he did not report those payments as income on his personal tax returns.
Pflueger also caused another of his companies, Pacific Auto Distributors LLC, to pay additional personal expenses, and he did not report those payments as income on his personal tax returns. Pflueger pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false individual federal income tax return for tax year 2005. He faces three years in prison, a $250,000 fine and restitution of $1million in back taxes.
Kam also pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false individual federal income tax return for tax year 2005 because she failed to report as income personal expenses that Pacific Auto Distributors LLC paid on her behalf.
Kurata pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false corporate federal income tax return for Pflueger Inc. for tax year 2003. Kurata admitted that from 2003 through at least 2005, he knew that Pflueger Inc. was paying for various individuals’ personal expenses, including Pflueger’s.
Kurata further admitted that during 2003 he personally signed checks from Pflueger Inc. that paid individuals’ personal expenses. Kurata filed Pflueger Inc.’s corporate tax return for 2003 knowing that it was false in that it improperly deducted as business expenses significant personal expenses of Pflueger.
Pflueger and Kam’s tax crimes sentencing is set for Jan. 31, 2013, and Kurata’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 20, 2012.
